Quality during Design

What could Shuji Nakamura, the Nobel Prize-winning engineer behind the blue LED, teach you about teamwork and career growth? Discover how transitioning from an independent researcher to a collaborative leader can elevate your professional journey.

Join me, Dianna Deeney, as I share insights from a recent event co-hosted for the IEEE Philadelphia Professional Communication Society. We'll uncover valuable lessons from the books "Brilliant!" by Bob Johnstone and Dale Carnegie's classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People," both of which spotlight the transformative power of teamwork and communication.

Learn about Shuji Nakamura's career evolution and find out how his story parallels many of our own professional paths. I'll also dive into my personal shift from solitary work to embracing collaboration in quality engineering. By leveraging quality tools for better communication and idea sharing within cross-functional teams, you too can drive more successful engineering and design projects. This episode is packed with actionable advice and inspiring anecdotes to help you thrive in your professional life. Don’t miss out on knowing the baseline approach that can lead to collaboration success!

Visit the podcast blog for more links.

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Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Anne Meixner, Dr. Vaneeta Kaur Grover, and Dianna Deeney join in a panel discussion about engineering and STEM. They met for an engineering book review to discuss the ideas that came from the books themselves and to link literature about engineering to current-day challenges.

Uncover the intricacies of engineering's past and present as we dissect To Engineer is Human and The Wright Brothers. Our collective expertise spans the gamut from semiconductor testing to biotechnology statistics, offering a rich tapestry of perspectives on these seminal works. This episode promises a journey through the shared trials and triumphs that shape our engineering landscape and a candid examination of the setbacks we seldom speak about.

The episode isn't complete without their review of the books that sparked this enriching dialogue. You'll hear why "The Wright Brothers" and "To Engineer is Human" scored high on our recommendation list for anyone keen on understanding the essence of engineering, from the glory of breakthroughs to the wisdom found in failures. Join us for this episode, where we bridge the divide between historical achievement and contemporary challenges in the ever-evolving world of STEM.

Topics Discussed
Visit the podcast blog to follow along with the discussion topics, prompts, and questions. Also access a bonus topic to consider for yourself or for your own book review/discussion.

Next Discussion
Want to participate in the next discussion? Join Dianna and others on May 28th. See this link for more info.

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

We explore the history, philosophy, and methodology of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). We dissect the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV, revealing how these methodologies are blueprints for achieving excellence.  From statistics to Motorola's legendary quality standards and other history of six sigma, you'll begin to see how DFSS may relate with your organization's current design development processes.

Quality during Design is not DFSS. It can be part of DFSS or any other product development process. Quality during Design is a philosophy that emphasizes the benefits of cross-functional team involvement and a methodology that uses quality tools to refine design concepts early on. Quality tools bridge the gap between team communication and innovative concept development. We review why skipping the crucial steps of questioning and investigating can lead to missed opportunities. 

As we navigate through the essential stages of product development, we invite you to join us on this enlightening path to creating impactful and high-quality solutions that stand the test of time—and the marketplace.

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Unveil the hidden flaws of FMEA and risk matrices that could be skewing your analysis and decision-making. 

In the realm of risk assessment and management, traditional tools like Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and risk matrices have been widely accepted as the norm. However, beneath the surface of these established methods lie hidden flaws that can significantly impact the effectiveness of risk analysis and decision-making processes. The latest podcast episode takes a deep dive into these issues, offering listeners an exploration of the challenges posed by conventional risk assessment techniques.

We take our conversation a step further, emphasizing not just the identification of such critiques but the vital role understanding them plays in fortifying our decision-making frameworks. 

The episode emphasizes the importance of staying informed and adapting to new methods in the ever-evolving landscape of risk management. By doing so, professionals can ensure that they are not only equipped to handle current challenges but also prepared to meet the demands of the future.

And for those of you eager to translate this newfound knowledge into practice, we spotlight an exceptional resource: "FMEA in Practice from plan to risk-based decision making," an Udemy course that promises to elevate your risk-based decision-making abilities.

Visit the podcast blog for a list of resources and more links.

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Dianna Deeney interviews Fred Schenkelberg about getting information for product design, focusing on reliability engineering in new products.

This episode is part 2 of 2.

This interview is part of our series, “A Chat with Cross Functional Experts". Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team within engineering projects. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they're involved and work with product design engineering teammates.

About Fred
Fred is a Reliability Engineering and Management Consultant and founder of Accendo Reliability.  Fred’s expertise is program development, accelerated life test design & analysis, reliability statistics, risk assessment, test planning, and training. He is a graduate course lecturer with the University of Maryland, the initial Producer of the ASQ Reliability Division Webinar program, and a regular speaker at the Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS®). He also founded and maintains accendoreliability.com, a reliability engineering professional development hub. 

Fred and Dianna talk about

• the realities of internal team dynamics and the delicate dance between innovation and issue resolution
• advantages of initiating reliability conversations early in the design process
• practical advice on how design teams can triage problems by applying the right tools, thus ensuring a more robust product design process

Fred's tales from the trenches offer a unique lens into the challenges and triumphs of creating products that not only work but last.

Visit the podcast blog for links to Fred's recommendations.

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Dianna Deeney interviews Fred Schenkelberg about getting information for product design, focusing on reliability engineering in new products.

This episode is part 1 of 2.

This interview is part of our series, “A Chat with Cross Functional Experts". Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team within engineering projects. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they're involved and work with product design engineering teammates.

About Fred
Fred is a Reliability Engineering and Management Consultant and founder of Accendo Reliability.  Fred’s expertise is program development, accelerated life test design & analysis, reliability statistics, risk assessment, test planning, and training. He is a graduate course lecturer with the University of Maryland, the initial Producer of the ASQ Reliability Division Webinar program, and a regular speaker at the Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS®). He also founded and maintains accendoreliability.com, a reliability engineering professional development hub. 

Fred and Dianna talk about

• the realities of internal team dynamics and the delicate dance between innovation and issue resolution
• advantages of initiating reliability conversations early in the design process
• practical advice on how design teams can triage problems by applying the right tools, thus ensuring a more robust product design process

Fred's tales from the trenches offer a unique lens into the challenges and triumphs of creating products that not only work but last.

Visit the podcast blog for links to Fred's recommendations.

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Navigating the common roadblocks of team consensus on severity ratings during FMEA or hazard analysis can be challenging. But with the right strategies, your team can capture uncertainty and avoid the pitfall of too many conservative estimates that skew prioritization. Learn how a probability mass function can revolutionize your risk assessment, ensuring a smoother, more accurate process for all stakeholders involved.

Your voice matters to us, and it's your feedback that fuels the journey of 'Quality During Design'. Share your thoughts on PodChaser or your podcast player of choice. Your reviews do more than just support us—they help others discover the insights we offer and contribute to our collective success. Tune in, engage, and be a part of something bigger with Quality during Design, where every listener's perspective is valued and every episode is a step towards mastering the art of using quality during product design.

Other episodes you might like:
Use FMEA to Choose Critical Design Features

Reliability Engineering during Design, with Adam Bahret (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Ever find yourself at the tail end of a project, swamped with unfinished tasks, and wondering where things went awry? Are there important recommended actions that the team was excited about that just didn't get done? These are the conundrums we tackle in this episode of Quality During Design, with a special nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Be Useful" for his proactive approach to work. 

We dissect the all-too-familiar scenario of projects saddled with incomplete actions, despite our best-laid plans. We don't just commiserate—we arm you with a strategy to ensure that things are seen through to the end.

We pull lessons from Schwarzenegger's tenure as California's governor and his hands-on approach during crises. We dissect the significance of staying involved and the vital role of follow-up and follow-through in implementing recommended actions from customer studies to FMEAs.  Join us as we cast a critical eye on why management systems sometimes fail in practice and what to do to help ensure success. This isn't just about weathering audits or ticking boxes; it's about a commitment to excellence in product and service design.

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Quality during Design isn't just an add-on; it's a fundamental aspect that drives innovation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction!

Welcome back from our brief hiatus!

One of the highlights of this episode is the introduction of an upcoming FMEA course on Udemy, with The Manufacturing Academy. FMEA, or Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, is a systematic method for evaluating our offerings to identify where and how they might fail and to assess the relative impact of different failures.  Dianna's approach to FMEA is not only about adhering to traditional methods but also about addressing the criticisms and limitations often associated with them. This course promises to be a fresh take on risk-based decision-making. You'll hear more about it when it is released!

Moreover, the episode touches upon the 'Quality During Design Fast Track' program, which is currently in the works and open to listener feedback. The initiative aims to harness quality tools in novel ways, even before a design concept is fully fleshed out. It emphasizes the importance of early input from cross-functional teams to gather requirements and user needs, thereby making the design process more effective and efficient. This program is system-based and affects how products and services are developed, leading to more thoughtful, user-centric designs.

Listeners are invited: please take brief survey to help Dianna with aspects of these upcoming courses and more.  www.qualityduringdesign.com/survey

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.

Blink and you'll miss it, Quality During Design is taking a short, well-deserved break. We’ve journeyed together through a whopping 136 episodes over the last two years and eight months, and now it's time for us to recharge, refocus, and return with a bang in a few weeks. While we are not releasing new episodes during this period, we're excited to stay connected with you through our weekly email newsletters, loaded with the same quality content, professional wisdom, and valuable tips that you've come to expect from us.

Is there a particular topic you'd love us to tackle in future episodes? Now is the perfect time to share your thoughts! We’re eager to hear from you, so reach out via email or social media with your questions, feedback, or suggestions. Let's continue to build this community together during our short hiatus. 

I want to thank you for your support and participation.  We're already excited to return to your favorite podcast platforms soon with a fresh perspective, exciting guests, and a renewed commitment to bringing you the best insights into quality and reliability in design. Until then, stay inspired, curious, and in touch!

Send us a message

Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, not late when it's expensive and painful. 

Book a 20-minute discovery call with Dianna's calendar. Whether you're navigating the "fuzzy front end" of product development and want to explore a workshop or advisory partnership, or you'd like to be a guest on this podcast. You'll leave with a summary, relevant resources, and a clear path for next steps within 24 hours. 

Pierce the Design Fog (piercethedesignfog.com): my book on aligning cross-functional teams, defining clear design inputs, and accelerating product success. NIEA Finalist Award, reviewed by PDMA. "Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset."-BookLife Reviews (Publishers Weekly)

Connect with me: I'm most active on LinkedIn. 

Free Resources for Subscribers Subscribe to the Quality during Design digest — https://newsletter.deeneyenterprises.com — for monthly actionable highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist (a free self-assessment download) and my Swipe File Vault.